LNG

Texas LNG, the US export project being constructed in the Port of Brownsville in Texas as a subsidiary of New York-based Glenfarne Energy Transition, has signed a supply accord with the Singapore-based trading unit of global commodities firm Gunvor.

Glenfarne, a New York-based fund specialising in energy infrastructure investment, is keeping the regulatory pot boiling on the Magnolia LNG export plant in Louisiana by filing a monthly activities report for through October 2021 after the completion deadline was extended to 2026.

Commonwealth LNG, the export venture proposed for Cameron Parish in the US Gulf Coast state of Louisiana, has been informed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission of the launch of an environmental impact statement (EIS) process with firm deadlines.

Glenfarne Group, the owner of the Magnolia LNG export project in Louisiana, has made a request to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for five more years to complete the plant and associated facilities.

The regulators had previously approved construction of Magnolia LNG and related pipeline expansions in April 2016 under its previous owner, the Australian-listed company LNG Ltd that ceased trading amid financial difficulties.

That approval had required LNG Ltd to complete the project within five years, by April 2021.

The Magnolia plant is proposed for a 115-acre site near the Calcasieu Ship Channel. It is designed to produce 8.8 million tonnes per annum of LNG from four Trains.

“Unforeseeable developments in the global LNG market have affected Magnolia LNG’s ability to enter into long-term LNG offtake contracts,” privately-held Glenfarne told the FERC in requesting the extension.

“Magnolia and pipeline provider Kinder Morgan request a five-year extension of their authorizations, up to and including April 15, 2026, to place the Magnolia LNG Project facilities and Lake Charles Expansion Project facilities, respectively, into service,” Glenfarne added in its Magnolia project filing.

A final investment decision had not yet been taken on Magnolia as it sought to finalize a purchase agreement with a Vietnamese power and import venture in the Mekong Delta. That accord has now lapsed.

Glenfarne also acquired LNG Ltd.’s patented optimized single mixed refrigerant (OSMR) liquefaction technology from the Australian administrators.

Its purchase of Magnolia boosts the amount of US LNG export capacity Glenfarne has under development to 12 MTPA as it also owns Texas LNG Brownsville.

The Texas project received authorization from the FERC in November 2019 for the facility to be sited along the Brownsville Ship Channel.

Texas LNG seeks to supply Permian feed-gas as LNG to global customers along with two other rival projects being developed alongside.

These are the Rio Grande LNG project with five liquefaction Trains and over 26 MTPA of output and the smaller scale Annova LNG venture.

Rio Grande is own by NextDecade Corp and one of the main shareholders in Annova is Exelon Corp, the utility headquartered in Chicago.

All three Brownsville projects have pushed back their investment decisions and original construction and engineering timetables.

Glenfarne’s Texas LNG leadership still includes the project's co-founders, Chief Executive Vivek Chandra and Chief Operating Officer Langtry Meyer.

The sale to Glenfarne by the Australian administrators of LNG Ltd assets did not include the proposed Bear Head LNG project in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia with 12 MTPA of capacity.

The Commonwealth LNG project in the US, a liquefaction and export plant proposed for the west side of the Calcasieu Ship Channel near Johnson Bayou in Louisiana, has had its revue schedule suspended by regulators to let the company catch up with the process.

TechnipFMC, the energy and LNG engineering company, has agreed an initial services contract for a US LNG export plant proposed for the west side of the Calcasieu Ship Channel near Johnson Bayou in Louisiana as part of the next wave of facilities planned for the Gulf Coast.